bug#6745: 24.0.50; vc-annotate should allow to configure the width of blame info

bug#6745: 24.0.50; vc-annotate should allow to configure the width of blame info

[Aneesh Kumar K.V]

This is with vc-git.el. With C-x v g it would be nice to be able to
customize the width of blame info. That allows to see both the code
and associate sha1 on the same window. Another option is to display the
source and commit in separate window thereby being able to scroll
them. But this have the issue that we will not be able to search both
the blame information and source at the same time. Limiting blame info
to a configuration 'x' character seems to be a nice trade off.

-aneesh

bug#6745: 24.0.50; vc-annotate should allow to configure the width of blame info

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

aneesh.kumar@linux.vnet.ibm.com (Aneesh Kumar K.V) writes:

> This is with vc-git.el. With C-x v g it would be nice to be able to
> customize the width of blame info. That allows to see both the code
> and associate sha1 on the same window.

Yes, that would be great.  It has also been suggested that all the VC
backends should use the same format, and I think that could be done at
the same time.  (Even if they don't all have the same data available,
they generally have much in common.)

But to do that, I think we'd have to rework how vc-*-annotate-command
works.  I think they basically work by running the "blame" command for
the VC in a buffer, and then parsing/fontifying the output a bit?

To allow regularisation (and user customisation) of the output, I think
we'd have to redo that completely.  Instead the backends would dump the
output to a temp dir, we'd parse it completely, add it to some
structure, and then output the data into a buffer in the format we want.
(Something that looks a bit like tabulated-list-mode, but where the user
can, for instance, use commands to make columns disappear and appear as
they wish.)

I think that's more than doable, and worth doing.

I wonder whether anybody's had any concrete ideas in this direction
before (so I've added Dmitry to the CCs).

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no

bug#6745: 24.0.50; vc-annotate should allow to configure the width of blame info

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> To allow regularisation (and user customisation) of the output, I think
> we'd have to redo that completely.  Instead the backends would dump the
> output to a temp dir, we'd parse it completely, add it to some
> structure, and then output the data into a buffer in the format we want.

We wouldn't have to implement this for all the backends -- we could bind
`C-x v g' to a command that does new-style annotations if the backend
supports it, and fall back to the current functions if they don't.

Oh, and we could also implement annotations for just a narrowed-to
region while we're at it.  (This has also been requested a few times.)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no

bug#6745: 24.0.50; vc-annotate should allow to configure the width of blame info

[Juri Linkov]

> But to do that, I think we'd have to rework how vc-*-annotate-command
> works.  I think they basically work by running the "blame" command for
> the VC in a buffer, and then parsing/fontifying the output a bit?

There is no such problem in the vc-git backend because it shows
short hashes, and also it's possible to make other parts shorter
by customizing vc-git-annotate-switches.

bug#6745: 24.0.50; vc-annotate should allow to configure the width of blame info

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Juri Linkov <juri@linkov.net> writes:

> There is no such problem in the vc-git backend because it shows
> short hashes, and also it's possible to make other parts shorter
> by customizing vc-git-annotate-switches.

If you want to make the "name" part 10 characters long (for instance), I
don't think there's any way to do that?  (At least I can't find the
relevant switch after skimming the manual.)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no

bug#6745: 24.0.50; vc-annotate should allow to configure the width of blame info

[Dmitry Gutov]

On 09.05.2022 19:16, Lars Ingebrigtsen wrote:
> To allow regularisation (and user customisation) of the output, I think
> we'd have to redo that completely.  Instead the backends would dump the
> output to a temp dir,

               ^ temp buffer, probably

> we'd parse it completely, add it to some
> structure, and then output the data into a buffer in the format we want.
> (Something that looks a bit like tabulated-list-mode, but where the user
> can, for instance, use commands to make columns disappear and appear as
> they wish.)
> 
> I think that's more than doable, and worth doing.
> 
> I wonder whether anybody's had any concrete ideas in this direction
> before (so I've added Dmitry to the CCs).

IIRC there was a similar or related issue where Stefan M. suggested a 
similar course of action.

Nobody has taken up the work yet, though.